Eagles Prove Things Sometimes Even Out

Let's go back to Sept. 29, a beautiful fall Sunday afternoon. The sun is shining, the temperature is in the upper 60s and 66,696 Veterans Stadium fans are in a frenzy.

They should be. The Philadelphia Eagles have dramatically pulled into a 10-10 tie with the New York Giants on Reggie White's end zone deflection and Herman Edwards' three-yard interception return, and now, with only 37 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, they're lining up at the Giants' 24-yard line for Paul McFadden's field goal that will win it.

The 43 yards between the place of Ron Jaworski's spot and the uprights is of little significance to McFadden. He already has converted from 50 and 45 yards this season and is 4-for-4 from 40 to 49 yards. This effort is almost routine.

But a football in flight does some strange things and, only yards away from success, it hooks suddenly and curls past the left upright. McFadden, who never hooks the ball, has, and the Eagles lose 16-10 in overtime.

Ironically, McFadden hasn't missed a field goal since then. He's 9 for 9 over the last six games, with a 52-yarder against St. Louis.

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Now let's jump ahead to last Sunday. It's mid-November, but the weather is ideal. The sun is shining as it had Sept. 29 and the temperature is in the low 70s. Again the Veterans Stadium crowd of 63,694 is in a frenzy . . . but for a totally different reason.

The Eagles are dying a mournful death. Playing lowly Atlanta, they've already blown a 17-point lead in the final quarter. They are on the verge of a defeat that would not only be humiliating but could destroy their entire season.

Their position is bleak because, with only nine seconds remaining in the regulation game, Mick Luckhurst is standing only 42 yards from the uprights. Like McFadden, distance means almost nothing to him. He has converted 15 of 17 attempts, including 14 in a row at the start of the season, and is 7 for 8 inside the 49.

But Luckhurst's kick took the same dizzy flight McFadden's had six weeks earlier, slipping five or six feet wide of the left upright. The Eagles momentarily had avoided the embarrassment of defeat to a team they should have beaten handily.

"I think the Lord was with us," nose tackle Kenny Clarke said. "We were very fortunate."

One minute and 49 seconds into overtime the Eagles turned the near-defeat into victory when Jaworski and Mike Quick teamed up on a 99-yard touchdown pass, the longest of the season in the National Football League and the longest in Eagles' history by seven yards. They also earned their first extra- period triumph in six tries.

All of which proves that things sometimes DO even out in the NFL.

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The Eagles were lucky, just as they were unlucky against the Giants. Most of the players expected Luckhurst to make the field goal.

When he failed, however, they capitalized to remain in contention for a postseason playoff spot, and that's a tribute to their growth and maturity. Eagle teams of recent years would not have come back to win.

Especially after being buried within an inch of their goal line by a booming 62-yard Rick Donnelly punt that took exactly the bounce needed to skip out of bounds just short of the end zone.

As recently as a month ago, the Eagles in a similar position would have run three plays into the line and, failing to get a first down, punted the ball away. They'd have put the weight of victory or defeat upon the defense.

Not Sunday. "We came out to be aggressive," said Jaworski, whose entire body was in the end zone when he lined up to take the snap from center Mark Dennard. "We decided on the sideline we were going to throw the ball, were going to go for it."

Finding the Falcons in zone coverage, Jaworski avoided a strong rush on first down and threw down the left sideline to Kenny Jackson. His pass was long, but "it served our purpose," Jaworski said. "That was to get them thinking."

Then came the most explosive offensive play in Eagle history. Jaworski dropped five steps, set and rifled a timing pass between safety Scott Case and cornerback Bobby Butler. Case went for the interception, missed, and Quick pulled the ball in on the run at the 20.

"I knew there was no stopping me unless I tripped and fell," Quick said. "I knew I had them."

"We knew we might have a long gainer if we could get the corners playing outside," Jaworski said. "Mike just split them and was gone."

The play was identical to the one on which Jaworski and Quick teamed two weeks ago to defeat Buffalo 21-17. In that instance the safety also tried unsuccessfully for the interception and Quick, making the catch facing Jaworski, backpedaled the last six yards into the end zone.

Why can't the Eagles blow away the teams they're supposed to, like Buffalo and Atlanta? "We have orders from Jack Nilon to keep people in the stands," Jaworski said with tongue-in-cheek sincerity. Nilon runs the Veterans Stadium concessions.

"We dodged another bullet," said Clarke, who had nine tackles and 1 1/2 of the Eagles' seven quarterback sacks against the Falcons. "Every game's an adventure."